I would definitely offer him one more year now that we finally figured everything out. I like having Blake/Meeks/Jamison/Clark/Hill next year and getting an athletic SF who can create for himself in exchange for Pau if at all possible. Add Kobe, Nash -- who is not showing signs of slowing down right now -- and healthy Dwight, and we can contend next hear for sure, while still keeping the 14/15 plan intact. But right now, Jamison looks great, he's in good shape and does what he did his whole career. It's like he stopped ageing 5 years ago or something. He never gets hurt either.

"It's not realistic to get younger and better when you only have the veteran's minimum to offer free agents."

^^ Hmmm. I'm not sold on Clark at the 3. I'd like to see him re-signed and continue to play the starting 4. But yeah, I'd love to re-sign Jamison, too. Those three, Hill, Clark and Jamison make a really solid front court rotation alongside D12.

I thought that to be absurd. The guy makes minimum salary, is better than a good percentage of FAs, and we want to cut him? In any case, it looks like a consistent rotation coupled with consistent minutes have given him better results.

puffyusaf#2 wrote:I remember not to long ago in this very thread people were calling him Garbage. Glad we didn't just "cut" him like many said.

What was up with his free throw shooting last night? Normally Jamison is solid. Last night he was either short or steering them in. I agree that he is producing at a good clip. Quickest release on a shot but funky looking as hell.

He still sucks on defense (Which is expected since hes old) but hes been rock solid on offense. Hes filled in nicely in Pau's absence. Not many minimum salaries players can put up the numbers he is putting up right now

For a while, save a few outbursts here and there — most notably a 33-point effort against Denver on Nov. 30 — Jamison wasn’t putting up enough points to overcome defensive shortcomings and keep him on the floor. So he wasn’t. Over 10 games between December 14 and January 6, Jamison, who before this season had never averaged fewer than the 22.5 minutes a night he played as a rookie in Golden State back in ’98-’99, played a grand total of 26.

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After a fifth straight DNP-CD, Jamison, long considered one of the better locker room guys in the league, popped off. He would later apologize for making himself a distraction, but it was clear the relationship between Jamison and Mike D’Antoni wasn’t strong. Like a lot of things, it seems to have improved since that air-clearing January team meeting in Memphis.

“Me and him talked. It was tough at first, but now we have a relationship where if I see something, I can talk to him. He has no problem coming to me like, “Look, your minutes might go down in this game,” or “I’m going to try something new.” That’s what I’ve been accustomed to.”

Since making is way back into the rotation, Jamison has looked much more like the guy management expected. In January, he shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, and in 13 February games averaged 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 48.5 percent shooting, including 43.2 percent from downtown. Despite his defensive shortcomings, Jamison is boosting the bench, and D’Antoni is frequently keeping him on the floor late in games, with good cause. A lineup of Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Metta World Peace and Jamison has, according to 82Games.com, been arguably the team’s most productive.

Early in the season, Jamison was deployed primarily as a spot-up shooter, something he can do, but isn’t ideally tailored to his skill set. Now, he’s being put in a wider variety of situations with far better results.

One big reason is Jamison’s ability to move away from the ball. According to Synergy, Thursday against Minnesota Jamison was part of 14 plays, only two of which were in isolation. The rest came on pick-and-rolls, as a cutter, or on the offensive glass. To say the least, this reflects season long trends. Only 1.1 percent of his possessions all year have come in isolation. Meanwhile, 369 of his 448 plays on the season have come on spot ups, cuts, roll situations, offensive rebounds, and in transition. He’s been particularly effective rolling off screens, averaging 1.392 points per possession, 6th best in the NBA.

No wonder Mike D’Antoni seems to love him so much, now.

“He understands spacing, he understands when to cut,” D’Antoni said Thursday. “He’s the type of basketball player that I love. I think the way he plays is easy to play with because you know what he’s doing. He cuts in at the right time. He slips picks and does a lot of things that makes a smart basketball player on the floor.”

Kobe clearly is happy to have him around. ”He’s like a little cockroach,” Bryant cracked after the Minnesota game. “He just keeps finding cracks.”

“He has great timing, and his ability to read the defense. But I think it’s timing more than anything, though. A guy turns his head, and he’s gone. He plays extremely, extremely well off of me. I know as soon as I get loaded up against a double team, I know I can always find him somewhere,” he continued.